Chris Russo is on ESPN for his entertainment value, not his astute sports analysis, which the Radio Hall of Famer proved once again this week.
During Russo’s weekly appearance on First Take, he attempted to support a claim recently made by TNT’s Kenny Smith that the New York Knicks are never able to boast having the best player on the court. While debating the topic with Stephen A. Smith, Russo looked at his notes and began listing NBA players who are better than anyone on the Knicks.
ESPN says Reggie Brown is better than Julius Randle & Jalen Brunson
Can’t argue with that.
(by the way who is Reggie Brown) pic.twitter.com/6w32JmvMRw
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) December 7, 2023
“Randle’s a decent player; he’s not a great player. Brunson’s a very, very good player, but he’s not a great player,” Russo said regarding two of the Knicks best players. “And there’s other great players in that conference. Butler’s a great player, Tatum’s a great player, Reggie Brown’s a great player. Embiid’s a great player. There’s too many great players in that conference that the Knicks don’t have.”
The Knicks are constantly being linked to the next superstar that they will chase and probably fail to acquire. LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and Joel Embiid have all been on that list. Reggie Brown, however, has never been linked to the Knicks, probably because there is no one by the name of Reggie Brown in the NBA.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to most of Russo’s audience. He regularly fumbles over names of prominent sports terms and figures. Matt Eberflus, Chris Olave, Saquon Barkley and the Washington Commanders are a few Russo struggled with recently.
But usually, he mispronounces names. Reggie Brown seems completely made up.
Maybe Russo meant Boston Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown? But what happened in the last few months that made Russo believe Brown is a great player if that’s the case? Last season, JJ Redick blasted Russo as “the absolute worst” for attempting to argue that Brown isn’t even a top-20 player in the league. Now, all of a sudden, Brown is great? Perhaps it was the apparent name change to Reggie that won Russo over.
